Money talks for California's 'pay-to-play' governor

It's hard to imagine a politician more reviled than California's governor, Gray Davis.

The state economy – the sixth largest in the world – is in trouble and most people blame him for the downturn. Because of his handling of California's electricity crisis, committing too much public money to overpriced long-term energy contracts, a once-flourishing state budget is now $24bn (£15bn) in the red – the sort of deficit that threatens to dismember public services.

Governor Davis is an acknowledged master at the art of legalised bribery, exploiting America's lax campaign finance laws to extract fat contributions from companies and unions just before or just after he signs legislation in which they have a direct interest. Many fellow Democrats are appalled – they call him the "pay-to-play" governor.

His most notable feat is to have raised a record-breaking $67m (£43m) in campaign funds during his four-year tenure and to have spent $51m demolishing political opponents in attack adverts on television.

All good reasons, one might think, to throw Governor Davis out of office. But despite consistently awful approval ratings, he will almost certainly prevail in next Tuesday's elections because his Republican challenger is perceived to be even worse than he is.

Unlike Governor Davis, Bill Simon is not a career politician. He has never held office before, and it shows. He has spent much of his campaign explaining away an investigation into the legality of his tax records and fending off a lawsuit in which a former business partner, a convicted drug dealer, has accused him of fraud.

With little to pitch other than some distinctly voter-unfriendly positions against abortion and gun control, Mr Simon has tried to go on the offensive, with almost farcically unsuccessful results. He recently waved a photograph which he said showed Mr Davis illegally accepting a cheque in the governor's office. It soon became clear that the photo was not taken in the governor's office, that the cheque was above board and that Mr Simon had been duped by a campaign worker who did not check his facts. To make matters worse, the police official who handed over the cheque has hit Mr Simon with a $100m (£64m) defamation suit.

California voters cannot quite believe the sorry spectacle before them. At a time when national politics is dominated by the Republican agenda, there is a sense that California – dominated by Democrats in just about every major public office – has missed a crucial opportunity to act as a counterweight to the Bush administration.

The crux of the matter is money. No Democrat dared take on Governor Davis because of the size of his war chest. The one Republican who looked promising, the former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, was blown out of the water by $10m worth of Davis attack adverts during primary season.

Many will abstain next Tuesday. Up to 10 per cent might vote Green as a protest. Just enough are expected to hold their noses and vote for Mr Davis – the latest polls put him about nine points ahead.